In case you missed the article in Sunday’s paper, former Houston schools Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra revealed his concerns about Trustee Larry Marshall’s ties to a construction vendor, Eva Jackson of the local company RHJ-JOC.

“In 2004,” Saavedra recalled, “Mr. Marshall showed up with Eva Jackson and her husband at a Christmas party I hosted for the board and senior staff at my house. It was actions like that that implied to my staff that this vendor was important to Mr. Marshall.”

Jackson and her company, now RHJ-JOC, are at the center of a federal lawsuit filed late last year by a competing vendor, the Gil Ramirez Group. The suit alleges that RHJ funneled money to Marshall through his campaign treasurer to help secure contracts with the Houston Independent School District. Marshall and Jackson deny the allegations.

Jackson’s success in winning public contracts for her company provides a case study of the role personal relationships with public officials can play in the high-stakes world of government contracting. Particularly in cases where agencies are not required to accept the lowest bid, influence and lobbying can come into play.

“These are big contracts. People fight for these things,” said former Fort Bend ISD board member Ken Bryant, who expressed support for RHJ when it was seeking a contract renewal in Fort Bend while other trustees favored contracting with another vendor. “Sometimes people say things that may not be true to get an edge, politically speaking.”

The story also discusses related concerns at Houston Community College, where Jackson’s company has been paid $56 million, according to HCC records.

At HCC, records related to [former Vice Chancellor for Finance Gloria] Walker and a construction project that RHJ worked on are being kept under wraps. The college said it could not release them because of a law enforcement investigation, according to letters sent to the Texas attorney general. HCC officials would not disclose the nature of the investigation.

HISD and HCC have been the subjects of several recent stories dealing with ethics and relationships with contractors. One reported on Marshall taking expenses-paid trips to Costa Rica to explore “medical tourism” with HISD vendor and State Rep. Borris Miles. Another described how Marshall set the stage for Houston doctor Kenneth Wells to get board approval for a consulting deal that could cost up to $640,000.

The Chronicle also has reported on Trustee Harvin Moore taking an expenses-paid trip to China at the request of the nonprofit College Board, which does business with HISD, and board president Paula Harris traveling to Italy with her close friend and HISD vendor, Nicole West, during the district’s mandatory silent period with vendors.

The local news website Texas Watchdog weighed in last week with a piece noting the “overlapping casts of characters” in stories involving HISD, HCC, the Port of Houston Authority and Harris County government.

Harris’ campaign manager, attorney Franklin “Frank” Jones Jr., and his law firm, Greenberg Traurig, got a contract to negotiate Superintendent Terry Grier’s employment contract on behalf of the board. Chronicle reporter Mike Morris has written about Jones’ ties to the former embattled Harris County finance chief Edwin Harrison. Jones’ wife, Demetra Jones, has received thousands of dollars in no-bid work from several HISD schools, according to district records.